PSC update

Good Morning Neighbor:

Please see the email below with regard to the PSC settlement.  

Also, there has been great news with regard to the rescinding of prior Heath Assessments such as the one given to our community - see the article below with regard to the poisoning at Camp Lejeune.  The ATSDR is now admitting to using flawed information.  It is up to our community to make sure that the same is done for us.  We absolutely know that our community was not truly documented - not one person was ever seen or interviewed by the ATSDR so how could they have ever even generated a report.  http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2448

Your neighbor,

Connie

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Scott Zahler" <smzahler@goetz-zahler.com>

Date: April 29, 2009 9:51:36 AM EDT

To: "'Connie Thomas Biemiller'" <eiog@bellsouth.net>

Subject: RE: PSC

The Final Fairness Hearing was moved back by the Court to June 1^st  due to moving back the claims deadline which moved the schedule back.  If the Court gives final approvement of the settlement during that hearing, settlement payments will be sent 45 days after that.   Thanks

 

Scott M. Zahler

Goetz I Zahler, LLC

900 Circle 75 Parkway

Suite 700

Atlanta, Georgia 30339

 

770-431-1107 Direct Dial

770-431-1101 Fax

 

smzahler@goetz-zahler.com     Email

www.goetz-zahler.com              Website

 

Updates for our Community

Good Morning Neighbor:

Earth Day was a great success and I am including a link to some of the pictures taken that day.  http://www.eiog.org/ed-photogallery.htm

Also, there is a an upcoming West Fayetteville Bypass meeting and I am including a link for that article and meeting time.  If you live in North Fayette and South Fulton, this is a meeting you will want to attend.  This road will impact Hwy 92, West Bridge,  Rivers Road subdivisions, Lees Mill and Sandy Creek area.  Many in our community will be losing their homes in the very near future.  The county can take their homes without all of the transportation and environmnental permits in place.  And, as you know - if this can happen in your neighbor's backyard it can happen in yours.  http://www.thecitizen.com/~citizen0/node/36341

And lastly, I subscribe to FDA updates and since this is about the Swine Flu - I felt you all should be updated as well.

FDA Authorizes Emergency Use of Influenza Medicines, Diagnostic Test in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak in Humans
Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:57:00 -0500

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in response to requests from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) to make available to public health and medical personnel important diagnostic and therapeutic tools to identify and respond to the swine flu virus under certain circumstances. The agency issued these EUAs for the use of certain Relenza and Tamiflu antiviral products, and for the rRT-PCR Swine Flu Panel diagnostic test.

Your neighbor,

Connie

Connie Thomas Biemiller, Chair

South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force

www.thecommunityvoice.tv

Ph. -770-314-6999

As Margaret Mead once said:

Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Earth Day Event Tomorrow

Good Morning Neighbor:

I have been so extremely busy coordinating Earth Day I can hardly
remember my name. It is going to be a great event, we have over 50
vendors who are going to be there. Captain Planet will be there in
full costume at 10am to meet your kids or grandkids and ready to take
them through the hay bale maze. Danielle Venokur will be there from
the Mother Nature Network to teach us how to throw a "green " party
inexpensively. You can learn how to make your own rain barrel, worm
compost and a whole lot more. We will have vendors there who will be
selling gluten free recipes, handmade soaps and gifts etc... For a
full view of all of the vendors and the times of educational
presentations, please go to our website at www.fayettecoearthday.org
and click on the left hand side of the screen the Event Map. Also,
come ready to purchase something from our cookout - bring a blanket
or sit at one of our tables under the trees next to the lake and just
enjoy the beauty of the day.

We will also have recycling there - so bring your old tennis shoes
and cds - we want to see them recycled. Also, the Town of Tyrone
will be recycling electronics tomorrow please see the attached
article http://www.tyrone.org/node/68

I hope to see you at this great event - an event that brings us all
together for the higher good.

Your neighbor,

Connie

P.S. See the flyer below - Earth Day will be held at Drake Field next
to the Peachtree City Library on Hwy 54.

http://www.eiog.org/files/edFLYER-large.pdf

The Endangered Flint River

Hi all:

As many of you may know, the Flint River was listed in the top 10 most endangered rivers last week.  Dennis and I had the privilege of going down to the Flint to discuss what was happening with the river -  see the article below published in The Citizen today.

http://www.thecitizen.com/~citizen0/node/36231  

One of the most important things to note is GA EPD is only recommending that one eat one bass from the river once a week due to Mercury contamination - copied below from the EPD report that took me forever to find on their website.  Women were fishing as we visited and they were unaware of any mercury contamination.  There are no signs posted to warn people and to tell them consumption recommendations.   

Flint River (Spalding/Fayette Counties) Flint River Basin 

Species Site Tested Recommendation Chemical 

Largemouth Bass Ga. Hwy. 92 1 meal/week Mercury 

Spotted Sucker See Above No Restrictions  

 Dennis Chase has done extensive research on the Flint and it is noted in his research the total lack of wildlife in the river just below the airport.  In scanning the EPD report below - there was no EPD measurement taken in area around the airport.  

 http://www.gaepd.org/Files_PDF/gaenviron/fish_advisory/GADNR_FishConsumptionGuidelines_Y2007.pdf

We hope that you will find all of the above helpful to further protect our community.

Connie

Connie Thomas Biemiller, Chair

Environmental Institute of Georgia

P.O. Box 280

Fairburn, Georgia 30213

(O) 770-964-4864

(C) 770-314-6999

(Fax) 770-964-6165

www.eiog.org

Education about the environment, in the environment, and for the environment.

.

Beyond Pesticides Conference

Good Evening Neighbor:

A most interesting conference - especially when they directly spell out the neurological disorders that are directly linked to organophosphate poisoning - Ethoprop - see Dr. Kamel's studies below.  The research is clear that our varying disorders and the high chance that many of us will become ill in the next 10 to 20 years is overwhelming.  And, is exactly the reason we must hold the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to the fire to follow our community's illnesses.  I am including a link again so you can hear the failure of this agency to do their job.  The Georgia attendees - of three - made a public proposal to the Washington D.C. based group Beyond Pesticides that we collaborate on a new document "The Citizens Proposal for Environmental Protection"  and present it at the "National Conversation" that is being formulated by Dr. Howard Frumkin - Director of ATSDR.  You can rest assured I did not mince words - I am tired of having "conversations" - I believe if you are in the position of power to make a positive change with regard to immediate help for the health and safety of people it should be in action - no conversation needed. But, since it appears that there is an inability on their part to proceed - we will have to give them the guidelines for making something happen not 10 years from now BUT NOW.  Which brings me to another point - I cannot tell you how disgusted I am that we spent time and much effort testifying at our State Capitol in November of 2007 and no action has been taken whatsoever to correct the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.  Did they just have us there to speak to get us off of their back - it appears so!!  I hope for something very different on the national level.

http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?newsid=2376

There were many wonderful speakers at this conference who have published very well written books and I am linking them below as well.  

The Task Force will be meeting on the 13th and will begin preparations for the National Conversation!!!

Your neighbor,

Connie

Connie Thomas Biemiller, Chair

South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force

Philip Shabecoff, co-author of the new book Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children, served as chief environmental correspondent for The New York Times for fourteen years. Mr. Shabecoff also founded Greenwire, an online digest of environmental news and was selected as one of the "Global 500" by the United Nations' Environmental Program. His previous books include A Fierce Green Fire: A History of the American Environmental Movement.

Alice Shabecoff, co-author of Poisoned Profits: The toxic assault on our children, is a freelance journalist focusing on family and consumer topics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune, among other publications. She was executive director of the National Consumers League and Community Information Exchange. Her previous books include A Guide to Careers in Community Development.

Freya Kamel, Ph.D. is a staff scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Kamel's focus is on environmental determinants of neurologic dysfunction and disease, in particular, neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Kamel's research team which linked pesticide exposure in North Carolina and Iowa pesticide applicators to an increased risk of diabetes, showing that all seven pesticides examined contributed to a 20-200 percent increase in risk. Dr. Kamel has also studied the links between pesticides and Parkinson's disease and retinal degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. See her NIEHS studies.

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator and author of many books, including his latest, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. Mr. Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be. Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Jim has become a leading voice for those who no longer find themselves within shouting distance of Washington and Wall Street. He's a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, spreading the message of progressive populism all across the American grassroots.

Billboard Legislation was Defeated

Good Evening Neighbor:

I am happy to report that the billboard legislation was a very close
call but was defeated. Thank you to all who sent letters to our
State Legislators - your voice really does make a difference and it
truly did in this case. The billboard lobby has money and the only
way it was defeated was from massive letters and phone calls from
citizens who care. Please see this link to see if your
representative stood beside you by voting Nay to SB 164 - http://
www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/votes/hv0410.htm - several of our
South Fulton and Fayette Representatives voted Yes which is so
disappointing.

Cindy Mathews and I will be attending the Beyond Pesticides
Conference in North Carolina this weekend and I am looking forward to
learning more as to how to advance our community cause.

Your neighbor,

Connie

Connie Thomas Biemiller, Chair
South Fulton and Fayette Community Task Force
www.thecommunityvoice.tv